Image was an alien character that I created long ago, before Geneforce, before most of my stories became long-running series. Initially, he was a one-shot villain, but after reading through my old comics and the original United Nations of the Universe, I've decided to rewrite him and include much more depth and character in this short story. It's not as long as it could be, and maybe I will expand upon more scenes I didn't do this time around, but this was the most condensing I could do for a character who's history goes back WAY before the present day Geneforce exist.Enjoy!There was a reason I left him.

Long ago, I served a great empire. The Sune Empire was a proud and prominent force in shaping the Universe, or at least our local cluster after the Mosaic Galaxy was formed. With the Navitarians running loose and all that raw energy manipulating everything in its path, the King and Queen of the Sune Galaxy had united many sections of the Sune Spiral together to help regulate, manage and distribute the power that now echoes through our Universe. The two even made agreements and alignments with several thousand alien races, including that of my people: the New Matter and Black Arms.

However, great tragedy struck when the King and Queen were assassinated. Their only son, who was adopted from birth, named Eminai, fell into violent depression and sought the blood of his parent’s murderers. Rather than giving up his bloodlust after finding all who were involved and personally offing them, he craved for more. It was in the following years that he enlisted a militia of New Matter to be at his side while they branched out and conquered their neighboring planets, rather than let them be and keep his parent’s regulations intact. Instead than upholding and respecting that sector-by-sector system, he demanded that everyone must obey his new rule and his law was final.

Not many agreed with his stance.

It was around this time that I had been appointed Admiral of the Ranged, an elite force on his recently renamed “Planet Eminai” that specialized in long-distance warfare and often doubled as spies. I originally took the job because I wanted to have a sense of fulfillment, wanted to make something of my biological gifts. It was difficult to move up in the system, but it gave me something, even if that something was rather minuscule.

Being in one of the top positions of his planet’s military, a select group of others and I would be invited to private meetings with the Prince himself. One of which was particularly memorable for me…

-

I bowed as he entered the room, as everyone else did per the norm of royal formalities. When he signaled for us to stand once more, the Strategist General beside me looked at me with two of his four eyes. Then I saw his heaving lips move in a readable pattern.

“He has an aggressive Emission today.”

I nodded lightly before averting my attention back to the Prince, my muscles tightening. As the Jerboa-Jackelope hybrid sat abruptly upon his throne, all 16 upper-level commanders (including myself) moved forward to face him, still in our 8-person, 2 row lineup. I was now next to the Close Combat Chief, someone who I knew very well. I could see her pink spines glow with irritation as she waited to listen to our leader’s predictable incoming rambling.

“I just don’t understand why no one is willing to cooperate,” Eminai sighed, expressing himself even more so as he waved his arms and hands about. “I’ve issued that evacuation order about 15 times now, but I suppose we’re going to have to take the Numbles out by force. Not that it matters to me; it’s less people to manage, but still.”

So it became apparent that he wanted to discuss more planet-conquering plans. He waited to see if anyone would respond or object right away, placing one of his balled fists under his chin, lowering his eyelids and scanning our faces. With silence dominating the following seconds to come, he picked the conversation back up with more questions.

I, personally, knew Numbleans, but never took up the language myself. It didn’t seem that anyone else knew such a thing, either. Eminai loudly grumbled and hopped off his throne and to the floor in a single action. He walked among us as we then spread out into a wide circle, his eyes still narrowed as he played with his cheek fluff. For an all-powerful ruler, he was certainly very fluffy and soft-looking.

“What do you honestly think of the Numbleans? Are they even worth a war?” he asked us, still very blunt about the concept of engaging in a horrible, violent activity that could potentially kill millions. Then again, his response to that thought might be, ‘It’s just a couple million. There are trillions in my Galaxy. Small numbers don’t mean anything to me.’

One feminine-looking creature who I hadn’t yet met spoke up, though it was hard to understand her thick clicking accent. “It’s hard to say. If they are law-abiding citizens that can contribute to your overall empire, Your Highness, then they are worth keeping alive and not to be destroyed,” she said, her beak-like muzzle clamping firmly shut when she finished. The Prince turned to face her and slid his mouth over to the side of his face, looking at the ground in thought. It seemed for a second like he was actually considering her point, until he whipped around back to my side of the circle.

“What IF, they were law-abiding citizens?” he repeated, his tone growing more sarcastic as he continued. “First of all, they’re not. They haven’t yet submitted to me, Prince Eminai Ruh Frexio Sune. Their lack of submission seems like they would certainly be classified as a “rebellious” planet, doesn’t it?”

“Secondly, just simply abducting a planet isn’t possible to make things easier for me, fear it risk the alignment of our other, more competent solar systems in the Galaxy. So we can’t just bring it to us, even with our best tractor beams,” he explained, then turned back to her. “So what does that leave us with?”

He paused for an eerie 4 seconds, a sadistic smile on his face. The female alien’s eyes widened in fear.

“You forgot that I kinda LIKED destroying civilizations, MADARI,” he shouted at her, stressing his emphasized words with his hands. “I have the FUNDS. I have the POWER. I have the DIVINE RIGHT. I can have WHATEVER I WANT.”

At this point, the alien known as Madari collapsed to the floor in a heap, her four raised, arm-ilke appendages winding themselves around each other like clasping hands. I watched in shock as she begged for forgiveness in her native tongue before our Prince. The others were disturbed too, as I could see through my peripheral vision that eyes and ears were opening around me. He must have understood her, since he began to respond to this action verbally.

“I really hate repeating myself, reminding all of you of what I like, what I don’t like, what I need, what I don’t need! I really, really HATE IT,” he exclaimed, his hands covering up just a small part of his long floppy ears. His face then became really red in color and his body started shaking, like he was holding his breath. Several other aliens in the circle then quickly began to fall to their knees, as if them dropping would get him to stop this tantrum-like situation. I followed suit, only to blend in. Refusing to look up, I could hear him let go of his held-breath, proving my mental accusation.

I hadn’t realized how much a child Eminai was until this very moment. This sole, solitary action had eliminated any remaining respect and tolerance I had for our “ruler,” and it was replaced with disgust.

As he panted to regain his composure, the other military leaders slowly picked up their heads and stopped whispering their prayers. Why did they all feel the need to pray? Were they doing it out of respect for him, or were they afraid that he would snap and kill us all? I felt so out of touch with my comrades that I couldn’t stand it.

That’s when my impulsiveness got the best of me.

“Have you listened to what your people were doing, Prince?”

His head spun around in my direction and his body hunched over as if he planned on intimidating us. Like most of the other leaders, I was taller than him, and his hunch only made this stand out more, making him look quite ridiculous. His turban became loose, so as he walked towards me in my upright position, he adjusted it.

“What they were doing?” he repeated, sarcastically. “Why would I do such a thing?”

“Because you are observant and intelligent, Your Highness.”

He smiled, knowing the roots of my return.

“Then I must have slipped up this one time. I do not claim to be a god, Image.”

“Your people were praying.”

“For me?”

I didn’t want to respond to that right away, simply because I didn’t know whether or not to speak for everyone. I didn’t want to get anyone else hurt due to some misrepresentation. If I said, “no,” he surely would have issued punishments, but if I said “yes,” would he have been more forgiving upon them? I waited two seconds too long to think about this; I had to pick something and hope it didn’t end in bloodshed, one way or the other. I kept my gaze and told a generic lie that would hopefully, not get us in trouble afterwards.

“Yes. For you. They care for your safety, because you are the only thing right now that can guide them in life. They need you as much as you need them.”

He was a little taken aback by this, as I could detect from his shifting eyes. Of course, he didn’t want to admit to needing them, but then, if that were the case, then he would lose a fantastic group of experts in various forms of combat and intelligence. He would be at his most crucial of crossroads. He couldn’t come right out and say this, even though I knew from deep inside he wanted to. I couldn’t help but smile at his next words.

“Why did you not say ‘we?’” he asked, slowly backing up from me and more towards his throne.

“I am simply not religious. I do not pray to a higher power for guidance, acceptance or comfort. I am surrounded by things that give me life and energy,” I calmly told him. I could tell this hit him hard, too. As one who believed in a great divinity, he was absolutely terrified of loneliness and lack of a faith in something or someone he could please. This mindset amuses me, but I do understand why it exists in some.

“Very well,” he huffed as he returned to his seat on his throne. “This meeting is adjourned, and I wish for a second meeting on this exact matter in two days. I need some time to think about my invasion plans.”

As I followed the others out of the special room and the door shut behind us, the smile on my face widened as I got looks of approval from my fellow leaders. They had accepted the answer that I gave to him, solidifying my belief that that they all hated him and were merely praying for themselves. With the respect and gratification of my allies, I knew this was the start of something that I could no longer run away from.

I am just surprised it took so long for me to realize how much I couldn’t stand him.

-

It wasn’t until those moments that I slowly began to concentrate on my hate for the Prince of the Galaxy. In the slow, but steady increments of time that followed, I had gained a small following of like-minded people. Some of my old colleagues even joined the inward rebellion, and as a group, we would storm the gas giant that Eminai resided on and do a little justice-sabotaging every now and then.

Our main targets were his money, his war documents and contracts and parts of his library that withheld valuable information about the rest of the Galaxy. We determined that with this treasure trove of input, we could save what he hadn’t touched or corrupted, and provide money to those who needed to get out of there - especially the very grateful Numbleans.

It was fun while it lasted, but eventually, he caught on.

-

“AGAIN?!”

“Yes, s-sir, Your Majesty, sir,” a minor servant creature responded. “Several documents that were locked away last month, ready to be taken out for this month and examined… they’ve just vanished! Not only this, but there seems to be a missing or unavailable segment of time where our security footage is missing.”

The Prince slumped back into his dining room seat and groaned. He rolled his head around his shoulders, deep in thought on what to do next. When he came to a conclusion, he sat up and looked his servant messenger square in the eye.

“Is the security team sure that it wasn’t some sort of inside heist? That this is definitely the actions of a rebel group from outside the castle?” he asked him in a serious tone, his first finger pointed forward.

“It’s a hypothesis, but the forensic team is coming tomorrow to double check their efforts,” the worm-with-legs explained. Eminai simply withdrew his finger and looked away.

“I’m going to be there as well. I may have some interesting information they could use.”

-

Unfortunately, we weren’t very clever to cover up some obvious tracks we left. Our warrants for arrest were out the following week, and a few of us had already been captured and prepared for execution. I and many others had yet to be caught, however, and we plotted against the Prince further still.

We had many experts in the field of radio technology, who had contacted several distant families and races from across the Super Cluster. Among them was that of my family, the Black Arms. Their leader at the time, Black Demise, was accepting of our demands. Though, just like a Black Arm-alien would, he wanted to make it a deal. If they helped us now, they would be allowed to reenter the Sune Galaxy and feed on those we did not kill. Unfortunately, after we initiated the first few blitzes, we would not be able to uphold either part of the deal.

Our numbers practically vanished upon the fourth attack. Every soldier we were lent by another race had been eliminated. That small group of New Matter that Eminai had hired since ever since he took the throne was all he needed. I can still remember their names: Rouffe, Horizon, Pulse and Jupiter. They were masters of their skills and officially appointed warlords to King Neumus and Queen Materia, the rulers of all New Matter in the Universe. With these four by his side, Eminai had now set the bar so incredibly high for his army that he was virtually untouchable by the rebel forces.

All of our allies abandoned the fight, including Black Demise and his Black Arms. After the warlords had destroyed their home planet, the Arms took refuge elsewhere via their portable homeland, the Black Comet. They floored it for the Mosaic Galaxy, like many others.

I had lost so many of my friends and comrades during those battles. Every time, I was surprised to see fewer and fewer of them still fighting beside me. Looking back, I should have expected to witness such a massacre.

Then came the day that the remaining few were captured and set on death row. We had been chosen to receive the Gamma Execution, like many others before us. Eminai must have chosen this particular method specifically for me. He now knew that I was one of the leaders in this whole operation.

-

Dressed in a gold and purple robe, his white and lavender turban placed perfectly around his antlers, Eminai entered by chamber with a blank expression on his face. I was chained to the wall behind me so I couldn’t touch him; even my tail and red tendrils were restrained. All I could do was watch his expression contort into a smile as he spoke.

“I had a feeling it was you.”

“What took you so long?”

I wanted to do so many things to try and escape, just to finish him off. Just to end his reign of evil. For some reason, there was nothing left in me to try.

“What changed your mind about me? Did I no longer provide you with meaning in life?” he questioned, rubbing his furry chin with his other hand on his hip.

“The day that you nearly suffocated yourself in front of us. When you traumatized nearly every single one of your top combat specialists, just because you wanted us to agree with you. That’s why I stood up and asked you if you heard them praying,” I growled narrowing my eyes and flaring my nostrils.

His eyes darted about and his foot tapped on the solid ground until he remembered what I was talking about. “So you lost respect for your leader because they wanted to do something you didn’t?”

“What you want isn’t always right,” I retorted quickly. His eyes widened and he nodded. He actually seemed to understand that his irrational behavior was the problem. Why did he never try to correct this?!

“Yes, well, unless it is a divine right, I have no moral compass on the rights and wrongs of the Universe. Every culture, individual is different from one another. You understand this. Stealing isn’t exactly a virtue, nor is espionage, assault, murder, secretly disobeying one’s leader… May I continue?” he shot back, his smile wider as he stepped a few paces closer to me. If only my tail wasn’t bound to this wall…

“No,” I huffed. “You’re already getting what you want from me. I will not allow you to take anything more.”

It was then that he ran up and slammed into me, his chest crushing mine as he grabbed the sides of my face fiercely. I gasped for breath, but his words caused me to halt my breathing for just a moment.

“Then why… am I… still alive?!” I sputtered, choking on what little air I could collect. He let go when he realized I was suffocating. Why did he not just strangle me then and there?

“You’re important to me, as I was to you. I’m glad this was a Universe that which our paths finally crossed,” he told me, backing off of my body and adjusting his garb. “I’ve spoken with the divine messengers. They’ve told me some interesting information regarding the future. My future. What I can do to achieve greatness and ascend my physical mortality… Allow my Spirit to become — ahaha, you wouldn’t understand…”

As he smiled and laughed at me, something in my mind seemed to churn. I became curious in what he was about to say. I wanted to know what he was planning to do. He was already in an incredible position of power. If he was to gain everything he wanted simply by command, his actions could end with devastating effects. He was already on a path of destruction by annihilating several races across the Sune Galaxy. I could only imagine that if he became… no, it’s too gruesome to mention…

-

I spent several days locked away in that prison for my crimes. Throughout that time, I was deep in thought and always going back to the Prince’s words: “You’re important to me…” Why? He mentioned something about Universes… I had speculated that there were more than one, but never had I gotten such a blatant confirmation of my theories. Was I not involved with him in another place and time? Were those Universes the effect of his failures? If that were the case, then Eminai must have been a transdimensional being - or his Spirit was, anyway. With every question I tried to answer, more assumptions and questions got in the way of my thought process.

Then the day of the Gamma Execution came. I was the last one to be taken out of our major group. Everyone else was gone.

As the specialists escorted me to the very room, I could see out of the corners of my eyes that a small creature was following us. It’s presence was light - quite literally. The aliens that carried me could not detect such a frequency that this being was emanating, but I could. Whether that was intentional or not, I could not tell. It carried similar properties of that of a New Matter, but I could be wrong. I have been wrong before.

I was laid upon a particular table in the center of the room, locked up as I was in the prison chamber; none of my limbs nor tentacles were free. As I looked up above me, my eyes widened. The ceiling of the room was practically non-existent, as a wide hole in the top of the dome-shaped room exposed the bright and beautiful star-filled sky. The vacuum of space is nothing on my body, as I share most of its properties, being that of half New Matter, so this condition had no effect on me. The view of the Ceyula Nebula was breathtaking; it was hard to imagine that such a lovely sight could kill me instantaneously.

The Gamma Execution is the act of channeling high-energy, compressed Gamma radiation in its purest form, and firing it from a select group of young stars like a laser beam down upon its victims. It is a rather inane and inefficient method of disposing of individuals, as it eliminates everything that the being once had, including its Spirit. It is known to be inefficient because for this technique not only hurts the chance for a star chosen to become a White Dwarf, but it prevents that section of the chosen Nebula to become useful in making more stars. It temporarily halts the cycle of new “life,” on top of destroying the victim’s reincarnating Spirit another chance at life.

It’s a revolting method of murder, only to be used by the most sadistic and evil of creatures. I can think of only two kinds of beings who would care to do such a thing: the ones who invented it, the New Matter, and the ones who get mad because his generals won’t let him do what he wants.

As I calmed myself while the executioners readied their computers, I could feel a pulse of energy hit me from the exposed hole in the roof. I looked around to see what it could be, but there was nothing in sight. A small force suddenly hit my chest, causing me to grunt in surprise. Before my face opened up two big, blue crystalline eyes, yet there was nothing attached to them. Was this creature invisible?!

The eyes looked around me and made note of my position before proceeding to evaporate the shackles that held me. The executioners detected this as soon as the first chain had vanished, and called in for back up. The alarms wailed wildly all while the creature had blasted away the final chains that kept be down. Once I got up and stood upon the table, I looked for a way out. The ceiling was much too far away to try and make the jump, so instead, I bolted from the center of the room to the narrow hallway that I was escorted through. I could no longer feel the presence of the blue-eyes, as much as I wanted its company and to thank it for the rescue.

I have never forgotten what it had done for me.

How it allowed me to escape that dreadful place, hurry back to my home on Planet Eminai and supply myself for the journey I had no choice but to take… I was a runaway criminal by the standards of the Sune Galaxy. It would take me many long years for me to breach the spiral, even after hitching rides upon the fastest and most modern of space crafts.

My journey led me to the Mosaic Galaxy. Long after the rift had been exposed and repaired, this particular elliptical hub of energy was a popular choice for many alien groups to visit. I had remembered hearing that the Koko, who had originated in another galaxy in our local cluster, found a new world that pleased them to the point of renaming it to something akin to paradise. I decided to follow their lead and hoped that it was as pleasant as it sounded.

Upon arrival in the solar system of Rei Priimak Shitekste (or Solar Prime System in Kokumane), I noticed that not only had the planet been named “Tropic” but also that there were many other creatures inhabiting the place other than the Koko. Bipedal fleshy, hairless aliens called Humans, various human-like animals and winged beings who lived in the clouds also roamed the surface freely. It seemed like the perfect time for me to take refuge here and live in exile.

I found myself attracted to the beauty of the planet and invested my time into exploration and artistic photography. I could have easily enrolled in what they called the Koko Army with my skills gained from being Admiral of the Ranged, but I did not want to put my life on the line after all I had been through. Picture taking was a skill I have never truly had time for in the past, let alone attempted. I must admit, my early pictures were less than worthy of anyone’s time or funds. In order also avoid detection from any spies that may have existed, I kept myself anonymous for the most part and remained far away from any public communities.

I resided in a continent called Vegetaria, high in the mountains. I learned to live with a small tribe of what was left of the winged beings, called Aeonimbics. The Aeonimbics were very peaceful and religious, but I kept my views to myself this time. They taught me Kokoumane and about Tropican cultures and occasionally gave me advice on how to improve my photographic talent. For the first time in several thousands of years, I felt safe.

That safety, however, was rattled one fateful day. A creature with no distinct form came to my new home and began to rally for attention. Known simply as “Roben,” the gelatinous monstrosity called upon the most powerful of the Aeonimbics to help him in his quest. He claimed many extraordinary things, none of which I believed to be true, but hey… this was a talking blob dressed in a cape telling us that he had seen things beyond comprehension. I couldn’t help but be interested.

That was when I should have left the planet. I should not have given in to my impulsiveness.

There was a reason that I left Eminai, and it was for the exact same reasons that I regret partnering myself with Roben.